Ahead of the solidarity rallies for Ceuta scheduled for Wednesday, 2 September 2026, the Partido Popular (PP) has mobilised its members and elected representatives to take part across the country. The Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (FEMP) has called for the events to be held at 8pm outside municipal town halls, as a sign of support for the municipal services and people of the autonomous city following the mass border crossings at the end of July. In its announcement on 25 August, the FEMP called the day “Día de Ceuta”.
The PP has announced that it will have a strong presence. Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo plans, according to the party, to travel to Ceuta on Wednesday morning and attend the rally called by the FEMP in Madrid in the evening. The party headquarters said participation would be “explicit and clear”. PP sources also indicated that the party would organise its own gatherings in municipalities where the local administrations did not support the event. The PP, in turn, has accused Socialist officials in some areas of a “boycott”.
The PSOE accuses the PP of appropriating the FEMP initiative for party-political purposes. Within the FEMP, opposition groups criticised the leadership of its president, María José García-Pelayo (PP), who is also mayor of Jerez de la Frontera, as one-sided. Responses from town halls are mixed: many municipalities have announced they will take part, while others—particularly those led by the Socialists—will not participate or are still seeking agreement on the form and setting of the gathering.
The mobilisation is prompted by the exceptional migration situation on 30 and 31 July 2026. The central government puts the number of people who entered Ceuta irregularly at the time at around 72,000; media reports give a range of between 70,000 and 80,000. Since then, the public prosecutor’s office has reported investigations into 20 sexual assaults on migrant women and underage girls in Ceuta. These figures are fuelling political debate both over how the events should be assessed and over responsibilities and local measures.
The 2 September rallies carry additional political weight because Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is due to address the situation in Ceuta and the handling of the crisis in Congress on Thursday, 3 September 2026. Observers point to the close timing of the rallies and the parliamentary appearance—and to the major parties’ efforts to shape public perceptions of the events.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).